British cyclist breaks Guinness World Record

Mike Hall becomes fastest man to circumnavigate the planet

Cyclist Mike Hall has broken the Guinness World Record for circumnavigation of the world by bicycle, taking just 92 days to complete the trip.

The record-breaking feat was undertaken as part of the World Cycle Racing Grand Tour, which was sponsored by Quick Energy. Starting out on 18 February, Hall crossed the finish line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich on 4 June.

The cyclist completed the epic unassisted race around the globe almost two weeks quicker than the previous record holder, Alan Bate, and is way ahead of the other race contenders - some of whom are still travelling at various points around the world.

Given the phenomenal scale of the achievement, sceptical readers might consider that the speedy cyclist simply cheated his way to the record. However, this is unlikely considering that the race rules stated entrants must: "Allow their progress to be tracked by GPS, include antipodal points of the world in their route planning and collect videos, photos and witness statements from various stages in their journey."

Five times longer than the Tour de France, the World Cycle Racing Tour cyclists left Greenwich in February to embark on a mind-blowing 18,000-mile journey. By averaging around 190 miles per day, Mike Hall smashed the world record by a fortnight.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the British adventurer, though. Hall said: "There were a few close calls with traffic, and I rode into a big hole in Albania and broke my bike."

He added: "The last few weeks on the road were quite difficult. I think it builds up, the stress; so I kind of released all that in the last few days."

Hall was apparently keen to be back for his birthday on 4 June as well as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Incredibly, he managed to time his progress so that he arrived back on that exact day.

During the course of his record-breaking trip Hall rode through 20 countries over four continents, raising money for charity Newborns Vietnam.